Slow Movement

I've been learning about the idea of Slow Cities and Slow Food.  It's the notion that most people overfill their lives and over commit and it does more harm than good.  Everyone wants fast food, fast service, and a quick fix in pill form for everything.  The Slow Movement is the idea of slowing down and truly connecting with people, our food, and our environment.  Slow food means that we take the time to grow food the right way.  Instead of pumping it full of genetic modifications, and warehousing chickens for quick production, we need to shift our perception about the way we grow food.  If we can rethink the way we grow food, we can rethink the way we live.  It's ok to slow down and appreciate time with our surroundings and other people.  We used to grow our own food - it took longer - but there was a quality of life associated with directly reaping the benefits of hard work. 

Many cities (primarily American cities) have shaped their communities to center around the automobile.  Take Salt Lake City for example.  Our streets are really wide and allow for cars to zip by, and our freeways are plentiful with little traffic.  We live to drive our cars and get places fast! Few people take public transit (because they think it's too slow, or too inconvenient), and fewer people walk or bike places.  As an avid biker, walker and transit user, I love being more connected to my surroundings.  I have catered my life to live without a car.  I am right downtown close to my work and fun things to do, and I'm only a block away from the train that takes me to the U.   I really love my neighborhood with it's small local shops and I've gotten to know many people in the area simply from walking.  I also think I tend to notice, more than the average car user, that this city still favors the automobile.  I get hustled by cars trying to turn when I cross the street, like - really?  You can't wait 5 more seconds for me to WALK across instead of forcing me to do that weird skip run thing?

We need to make positive changes to the way we are constructing our city to favor people, not cars.

I'm not against cars, really.  There are many times I get frustrated with the way public transportation works in this city compared to other ones, and desperately long for a car.  Cars have done wonderful things for human beings.  I just have a problem with how they dominate the city setting and take away from a lively urban experience.  Most people don't know what the trolley system in Salt Lake City used to be like.  You could get anywhere (yes, anywhere) via trolley car.

This map shows just the Salt Lake City metro area.  There were street cars to Kearns, Magna, PARK CITY and many other areas.

All I'm trying to say is that the way many of us live could use a little adjusting.  If we can shift our perceptions away from the fast car, the fast food, the fast internet, then we may all be a little bit happier.  I know I certainly would.

To learn more about the Slow Movement click here.




Images from WeHeartIt